Neoplatonism is the highest development of a purely rational theology that I have yet seen. Proclus' Elements of Theology lay out a rational understanding of man, matter, the cosmos, the gods, and their relationships that I have found, and his other writings develop his thought well. Neoplatonism isn't exactly a religion, though (they generally existed in the context of Classical Paganism and did adopt Theurgy to create a sort of religious Neoplatonism, so the question could be argued either way).

In terms of religions where these is no question whether it is a religion, Buddhism is the clear winner.

Faith is one of the most pernicious ideas to infiltrate religions, since it encourages ignorance and punishes the thoughtful. There is no Faith or set of beliefs that must be adhered to in the teachings of Neoplatonism or the Buddha, in fact encouraged questioning of all aspects of his philosophy. All axioms that either system depends on are supposed to be questionsed and investigated.

It's true that some later developments in Buddhism became watered down religions largely unrelated to the Buddha's teachings, and are lacking in this respect (such as Pure Land/Nichiren/et al), as they tend to go pretending that some Buddha or another is a god to be blindly worshipped without understanding,and that doing so is the main or only way to gain merit, but there are still many living philosophical branches of Buddhism that try to be true to the Buddha's teachings.

Let me tell you some facts .. Islam is the only religion which has an unaltered Holy Book, the Koran. Yes now I know many people come on TV and say that what they are doing is permitted by Islam and all that .. and then people belive them and say that Islam is what that guy on TV said.. well NO .. people abrogate religion (Christians havew abrogated the bible .. kings came and added or deleted stuff from the bible as they pleased) .. so anyway back to the point .. just look at the Koran and u'll find all the answers and not a SINGLE word in the Koran has been changed to this day ..

Anonymous .. Budhism is not a religion .. Buddha never said it's a religion ..

people tend to categorize religion that bests fits their life style or the generation .. hey .. have some common sense here please. Don't change the religion .. change yourself ..

Much public discussion about religion fails to define "God". A believer has faith that God exists; an Atheist has faith that [the believer's] God doesn't exist. Both positions depend on an undefined concept of God. It is as if one person proclaims the superiority of not drinking, and another advocates drinking regularly, but neither specify whether they are talking about water, whiskey, or antifreeze.

There is no truth but the truth we make. "Mother Nature" doesn't care any more for us then worms or bacteria. Buddhism seems to be the best in working on our minds and setting down a set of ethics based on our decisions not some rules set down by a god. As the Dalai Lama says. Everyone wants happiness, no one wants to suffer. If you think of everyone as the same, your actions will be to increase happiness for yourself and others and to refrain from causing suffering to yourself or others.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES FROM THE BIBLE AS IT HAS IMPLICATIONS ON THE WAR AGAINST TERROR/ISLAM and the claim of israel that god gave them the land. If the child is an infant than the judeo/christian version becomes nul and void and we are wasting our time and resources ie we could save trillions of dollars and create a more peaceful world rather than fighting against islam the religion of abraham,moses, jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all).

This passage is central to islam/chritianity/judaism.

Genesis chapter 21 from verses 14 through to 22. Please read this very carefully several times and then tell me the mental picture you get between the mother child interactions what the age of the child is mentioned in these verses. If the mental picture is that of a 17 year old child being carried on the shoulder of his mother, being phsically placed in the bush, crying like a baby, mother having to give him water to drink, than the islamic viewpoint is nul and void.

Also Genesis 21 verse 1 to 3 why is issac being refered to as abrahams only son? at this stage abraham had two sons Ishmael the first born and Issac the second born.

I have asked these questions to many learned christians and am very perplexed that nobody can give me a logical answer and it is dismissed as a mystery???

religion is just a system of control, the people who invest belief in them do so becuase they cannot take responsibility for themselves, therefore the question has a double meaning. What is the best method of control, Islam. It is the only contemporary belief that encourages people to strap bombs upon themselves and blow up other people with the promise of a heaven populated with virgins. Thats a pretty brilliant way of controlling people and it works. it's also the dumbest idea on the planet at the moment.

neo-hasidic judaism. it's coherent, cohesive, and competent. it knows not to take the text literally, yet can look into the text and find all the secrets of the universe. it celebrates the ecstatic while remaining austere. it balances reverence and irreverence. it holds fast to tradition while radically rejecting the tradition. it says "go into the dark places to seek out the light." it's pantheistic. it's respective of others' beliefs. it's libertarian and anarchistic. it rocks my world.

Science and religion are equally absurd. Both are attempts to make sense of an objective reality through a subjective lens.

"Science" presumes to use fact, while "religion" presumes to use faith.

A short decade ago, it was a scientific "fact" that cancer and heart disease were not caused by communicable agents. To suggets otherwise was "heresy". Of course, now there is evidence that viruses cause cancer and bacteria causes congestive heart disease. And in another century, it will probably be proven that some other factor is at work.

Nihilism is probably the closest thing to an "accurate" religion, but it fails to explain concepts that cannot be understood and phenomena that cannot be percieved by human minds and senses.

Take every major world religion. List them. Then tell me how much war has been encouraged, pushed, instigated or promulgated by each of them. The one which has caused the least military mayhem in history would probably be the best one for those who insist on the crutch of religion.

I'd bet that the Abrahamic religions; christianity, judaism and islam, particularly christianity and islam have spent the most time 'converting' the heathen with the sword. They all recognize the same god, a majority of the same prophets and variants of the same mythos/text. Augustine in his later life came to the conclusion that conversion by the sword was sanctioned by G-d. Mohammed reached that conclusion at the beginnings of Islam. Christianity and Islam need to repent their bloody evils and begin to universally practise tolerance and respect for the lives, aspirations and beliefs of their neighbours. As far as the truth goes, that's the truth.

And another bit of truth: If you're religious and think G-d sanctions your violence towards any being within creation then you're not hearing G-d. In fact, you should really be concerned about who it is you're really listening to.

Not so much the Mythology as the attitude. Take care of yourself, fight hard for what you believe in, give hospitality to even your enemy in the interests of being civil, but always be ready to put down on the table all of your cards.

Thor was strong, Loki was crafty, and Odin and Frigga were wise. Yet even in being wise Odin always sought more knowledge in an attempt to control his destiny and those he cared for.

They, the norsemen, had a hard life, a hard enviroment, and they wrested out from that a good living. They were not all reaving Vikings. They had poets, farmers, and some of the most talented metal smiths of the ancient world.

They put limits on their gods, understanding maybe subconciously that they were really metaphors for their world. Kind of like "Old Man Winter"

Janism, buddhism, hinduism, sadly no one in the western world really knows the theorys behind those religons, other then the sterytypes their thought. To me they make more sence then anything, and not just because their so complicated and hard to understand. It's just the view of god makes more sence then some fairy tale man made veiw of there being one person going this and this is right and junk. Those religons offer more freedom

now do i belive in them? no, i'm agnostic, but I do think their the best. If I had to choose between those religons leaders preaching to me, and then the western religons (islam, judisim, christianity) preaching to me, i'd choose the first ones.

i strongly believe that its Christianity...about all the other religions, i think that they are there just to trip ppl over in their faiths. i heard ppl converting from Islam, Buddhism.., into Christianity. But never heard of a Christian converting to something else, including Islam or buddhism, etc. Why????There is a true meaning in Christianity, don't know about all the other religions out there.